BERLIN (Reuters) - The German government on Tuesday reacted to French President Emmanuel Macron's vision for Europe by saying it was important that pro-European forces presented their ideas ahead of the European election due in May.

"The German government supports engaged discussions about the direction of the European Union," a spokesman for the German government said on Tuesday, declining to give further details.

Macron made an impassioned defence of a new Europe in a newspaper column published in each of the 28 member states in which he laid out his ideas for a "European renaissance" ahead of EU elections in May.